This paper documents the author's dissertation journey investigating online versus retail shopping behaviors and consumer preferences. Beginning with the challenge of selecting a research topic, the paper reflects on the decision-making process, the influence of academic guidance, and the importance of choosing research topics aligned with genuine interest. The work then explores thematic tensions between tradition and technological innovation, examining how consumers navigate the shift from conventional retail to e-commerce. Through historical context and behavioral analysis, the paper compares consumer choice processes across shopping channels, identifying both significant differences and surprising similarities in how customers approach purchasing decisions in different retail environments.
When I first started this dissertation in October, I knew that it was going to be a big project. Despite all the tutors' advice and warnings, however, I did not expect just how big and time-consuming it would actually become.
Within my journal, I have noted that my first group tutorial was on October 29, 2009. I was slightly worried, as by that time most of my course mates had already completed their first or second tutorials. The reason for this delay was that my group supervisor was tied up with other commitments and this was the earliest he could meet with us. The first tutorial was very significant for me as it helped outline the dissertation process. This was especially important, as I often find it difficult to start work properly until I have all required information. This is a habit that I will elaborate on further in this essay. However, I have since collaborated on the topic of online versus retail shopping, detailing both my personal reflections and this area of interest.
My worries about lagging behind were soothed by my tutor's confidence. He explained that the most important first step was establishing the topic we would write about. During the previous summer vacation, I had already decided to focus my dissertation on fashion and the Internet. However, I was very hesitant, as much of the literature on this topic had been written approximately ten years earlier, when the Internet first entered the industry. This meant that obtaining up-to-date information would be difficult. For a while after the first tutorial, I considered different topics, with one strong contender being "the importance of customer service in the luxury sector." I was driving my group mates and tutor to frustration by repeatedly changing my dissertation topic.
Finally, something my tutor said left a strong impression and helped me decide. He explained that a dissertation is a huge project that would consume our lives for at least nine months, and that if we were having problems now, imagine how we would feel in the middle of research. He suggested we choose a topic that greatly interested us, as it would provide motivation to complete the project. With his advice in mind, I decided to stick with the topic of Internet shopping, retail shopping, and Internet fashion. The other topics in mind raised the "so what" question. The entire process took me the whole summer, and it was not until college was about to close for Christmas vacation that I finally made this decision. I had wasted considerable time due to my indecisiveness. I learned that in future, I should make a decision and stick with it. Upon graduation and in industry, I will not have the privilege of taking so long to decide. It is important for me to be decisive and, more importantly, confident in my decisions.
I may seem to have written extensively on something seemingly trivial, but for me, the decision-making process for choosing a suitable research topic was one of the most difficult aspects of this project. This is a problem I have always encountered throughout my three years of university life and before that. It was all the more prevalent in this assignment, as it would count toward a large percentage of my final degree grade. I kept worrying that there was something better or simpler out there that I could focus on, that I would understand better and thus excel at better.
In retrospect, I realize that while my final grade remains important to me, the dissertation was not just about results but was also a learning process. I should not make decisions based on what would be an easier option, but instead what is likely to interest and enrich me. Throughout the course of the dissertation, I attempted to employ a reflective process, which helped me make decisions more quickly. Instead of worrying about options as I did initially, I actually determined the comparative pros and cons of each option, evaluating the consequences of each choice and thus helping me make more informed decisions quickly. This is a habit I intend to continue practicing.
Many people still believe, despite the Internet having been prominent for a decade and credit violations being traced and nullified more promptly than ever before in human history, that people remain hesitant. And understandably so. However, many people uphold an absolute, though unfounded, regard for ritual, tradition, and historical convention, automatically discounting anything new. I observe people around me frequently "cutting off their noses despite their faces," creating their own prison and a prisoner consciousness that prevents them from moving forward. What I mean to imply is that many people, while believing they are engaged in cautionary preservation, are actually posing as their own enemies and enforcing themselves into retrogression. In the debate over Internet versus shopping, to take the easy way out in its dismissal would be preposterous.
At the same time, technology has altered and continues to alter far too many scientific advancements and generalized developments, such that humans are evolving into something still unfamiliar to us all. Technology has created, in the mindset of keeping pace with such rapid progression, a "fast lane" that revolves around technology rather than other concerns. Understandably, seeking ways to counteract this rapid expansion is craved because humanity is still going through a stage of evolution involving the "I" development, brought on by the revolution which began in the late 1960s in the United States during the age of the counterculture, as opposed to the "we" stage prior to then.
Working with groups provides far greater benefits. Consider the post-World War II U.S. Industrial Revolution, or the Industrial Revolution in England, which took place as early as the eighteenth century (1760, as recorded by T.S. Ashton), or the far more explosive and grander English Industrial Revolution of the mid-1800s. Humans undoubtedly discover far greater benefits when we work collectively, so I believe our social selves will learn to return to and further advance the "we" mindset. By recounting historical ups and downs, we learn from our predecessors what works best. These events have all occurred to enable us to grow; shopping and expeditious shopping habits are continuously developing parts of our culture.
For each category—online or retail—there are statistically significant differences between consumers attracted to shopping online versus in traditional stores with regard to the parameters describing the choice process. However, there are more similarities between choice behaviors of the two types of consumers in the margarine category than in the laundry detergent category.
The premise that an online consumer may conduct themselves in a fashion similar to a customary retail consumer is outlandish in some regards, but in many operations these actions are alike. Consider preferences for different brand names, different sizes available for different customers, brand commitment or brand loyalty, and past experiences which may taint a preference one way or the other. On the other hand, product assortment, pricing, promotion, and targeting strategies vary between these two methods. Whether regarding online shopping or retail shopping, these factors are constant.
"Similarities and differences in consumer decision factors"
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